BOWLS REPORT - September 10th 2011
Silksworth’s David Bolt’s hopes off finishing the season off by adding a Northern Counties title to his national title were dashed at Manchester last weekend, in the singles Bolt went down 21-11 to Yorkshire’s David Tooley, the eventual winner was Lancashire’s Jason Parkinson who received a bye into the final. A couple of years ago the format for the Northern Counties was changed to allow counties to send there county runners up should the respective champions not be available, therefore in the pair Silksworth’s county runners up Scot Baker and Paul Baker took the place of club-mates Keith Avery and David Bolt who were unavailable, sadly for the Baker duo they went down 26-13 to Northumberland Paul Ging in the preliminary round. There was good news for the Durham representatives in the triples and fours as Darlington RA’s Andrew Kirtland steered his county triples & fours champions to Northern Counties success. In the triples final Kirtland defeated Cumbria’s Ben Sherwin 14-2 and then in the fours final Kirtland defeated Lancashire’s David Lockhart 21-13.
Despite Durham withdrawing from the tournament the Northern Counties Under 21 mixed top nine event still went ahead with only three counties involved, the eventual winners were Yorkshire by a single point
Final Positions – Yorkshire 13, Cumbria 12, Northumberland 11
The remaining SWBA competition took place as the secretary & treasurers singles event took place at Barnes Park, the eventual winner was Houghton Towns Pauline Vincent who defeated Grindon Mills Gwen Eltringham 17-10 in the final.
The final Grindon League table has been released, last years champions Silksworth finished fourth as Houghton Dairy Lane made up for missing out on the Earl Cup, Swan Cup and the ladies league titles by taking the Grindon League title by 1½ points from Usworth. Within the rules of the Grindon League any games not played due to opponents being unable to field a team or being unable to rearrange then one of the teams is awarded the five points, over the season the newly crowned champions received a total of 15 points from three un-played fixtures.
Final table –: Houghton DL 52½, Usworth 51, Whitburn 43. Silksworth 40½, South Hylton 40½, Ryhope 33, Hylton CW 33, Grindon Mill 32½, Pennywell 28½, Barnes West End 28, Barley Mow 21, Wearmouth 21, Dawdon 16½, Barnes Park 14.
As the outdoor season is now completed here is a full list of the promotion and relegation in the various Sunderland & District leagues
Earl Cup division one – Champions Roker Marine, Relegated Barley Mow & Herrington Workmen’s
Earl Cup division two – Champions Houghton Town, Promoted Sunderland
Swan Cup division one – Champions Silksworth, Relegated South Hylton & Herrington Workmens
Swan Cup division two – Champions Houghton Town, Promoted Lumley
Howey division one – Champions Barnes Park, Relegated Roker Marine A & Houghton Town B
Howey division two – Champions Ryhope A, Promoted Barnes West End, Relegated Barnes Park A & Sunderland A
Howey division three – Champions Houghton Dairy Lane, Promoted Thompson Park B
Storey Bowl – Champions Hetton Workmens (unbeaten)
The Sunderland & District AGM will be held at Houghton Dairy Lane on Saturday 12th November at 2pm
Bowls reached parliament this year as a proposed bill to safe guard bowling greens around the country from developers had its first reading in the house of commons, the Bill would insist that if a club is registered on a green and matches are being played on it, it cannot be deemed to be surplus to requirement unless there is a specific vote by the bowlers affected. The Bill would also introduce a community right to buy for any bowling green where disposal is agreed. Where a local club is prepared to commit to keeping the green in use, it would be given the opportunity to purchase it on the basis of its market value as a sporting facility, which is often much more affordable than developers are prepared to pay, the bill will have its second reading in 2012.